Can the Kentucky Wildcats Get it Done at Florida?

Kentucky (19-11, 8-7 SEC) at Florida (21-9, 8-7 SEC)

Location: Gainesville, FL
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Television: CBS
At Stake: The winner of the game will still have a small glimmer of hope for an NCAA At-large bid. The loser will be left the task of winning the SEC Tournament or playing in the NIT. The winner will be the #3-seed from the SEC East Division and the loser will drop the #4 spot.

The Kentucky Wildcats will travel to Gainesville this afternoon to take on the Florida Gators. Both teams have stumbled upon hard times in the past couple of weeks and are both in desperation mode. Most experts are calling this an elimination game from the NCAA bubble. Kentucky is coming off a terrible stretch of basketball in which they have lost seven of their last ten games, capped off by an embarrassing home court loss to the lowly Georgia Bulldogs. The Gators have been playing just as poorly as they have lost six of their last nine games.

My Thoughts: I am a huge Kentucky fan and I have no shame in bleeding blue. I am also a realist and I just haven't seen anything to convince me that the Cats can go into Gainesville and get a win. They were in a must win situation against Georgia and they played one of the worst, if not the very worst, games that I have watched the Cats play in the last 10 years. My hope as a Wildcat fan is that Coach Gillispie has managed to mend team chemistry, get the players back on the same page and formulate an effective game plan. My fear, largely based on what I've heard from sources close to the program, is that Coach Gillispie has been unsuccessful in pulling the team together since the Georgia loss and that things are not looking good for the team. I hope things have changed and I'll tune in this afternoon and support the Cats just like I've done for every game since I can remember. Go Cats!


Game Preview from UKAthletics.com